Links in posts to mumsnet site sections

[popehilarious]

Noticed a few posts mentioning things like alcohol and reviews and they'd had links added to relevant sections of the mumsnet site. Wondered if this was an automatic thing. I used to see it in the Guardian and it would drive me mad!

No. I don't want this.

I've already asked MNHQ to take down a post of mine this evening. All I did was type the words lunch boxes on a random thread on which re-using things was being discussed and a hyperlink appeared after I hit post.

I really really don't want links to things appearing in my posts unless I put them there myself!!

There you go - it's happened again.

I wonder what would happen if I type toilets or cat food ...

Nothing. Damn.

Nice to see a fellow Asimov fan!

But multivac can you reverse entropy?

The links are bloody. annoying because they are indistinguishable from genuine links embedded by posters. So a link which looks like part of the original post is actually spam.

At least make them distinctive and for goodness sake remove the tasteless and innapropriate links (flushing the CDN can be forced, and selectively - its 2019)

I thought this had been implemented in the past and then removed as it was intrusive and inappropriate.

This is ridiculous. Who is going to click a link like that on purpose and read it. MN isn't Wikipedia fgs. All you get is a thread with one key word linked all the way through and have to play "dodge the link" when scrolling.

I've also seen some very insensitive ones too.

I suspect MNHQ won't remove this as they are trying to create more revenue, but I'd be very grateful if they would change the colour of automatic links so that they can be distinguished from links that users create...

They're indistinguishable from a normal link.

Could you at least do something about that?

Also, yes, surely testing was done and somebody somewhere surely said 'what about sensitive subjects?" Maybe we shouldn't have this enabled on things like miscarriage/depression/SEN etc where it could be wholly inappropriate

I can’t see this generating much more income though. Aren’t most people savvy enough to click those links because they look so much like a common virus?

It should be disabled on certain boards.

And it needs to be in a different colour to hyperlinks posted by forum members, to make it clear that it's a Mumsnet link.

(But personally, I'd prefer not to have them at all.)

Just another poster chiming in to say that these links are intrusive, annoying and affecting my enjoyment of the site. Please take them down @MNHQ

It’s very distracting.

I was reading a thread where washing machine was mentioned a few times. The sudden blue text made it distracting to read.

It’s naff and cheap. Stop it.

I've seen it on a thread about trousers too - except ladies trousers in a thread about primary uniform.....

Please, please please make them look different to links the poster has actually put in - and maybe consider only putting the link on every fifth mention in a thread or similar.

Thank god I can't see this on the app, I would hate it. Don't see many ads on here either.

Very annoying, wont be clicking any blue links so defeats the object of it really.

In the spirit of compromise could you not just add a link index at the top or bottom of a thread rather than in people’s posts?

No offence, but I don’t want to look at a load of naff trousers MN ‘recommends’ but for those that do they don’t actually need a gagillion links throughout the thread. It looks cheap too.

I also think more sensitive topics should be off limits.

Right can we do an experiment please.

Find a website, any old one will do. Link here as you would normally.

Here's one:
post office standard parcels.

Link works in preview.

And continues to work.

Next experiment:

Mumsnet thread here. about links corrupted.

Works in preview.

Working.
A mystery!!

Annoying, intrusive, insensitive.

For fucksake crying out loud MNHQ, can you not get the problems with the site that have been raised repeatedly by users fixed first before adding more and more stuff?

Actual links inserted by forum members work on the app too.

I read the washing machine thread and it really was very intrusive. I kept reading it as blah blah blah washing machine blah blah. Clicked on the link thinking maybe it's a running joke or something and it's some bollocks about washing machine reviews. If I want that, I'll go to 'witch?' thanks very much.

Can imagine it's just awful on sensitive threads. And just disabling sensitive words won't work - I have an acquaintance whose head was put through a wm door in a dv attack. She was nearly killed, I don't think she'd be overly interested in the merits of Samsung over bosch were she to post about it.